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Project 2025, labeled the Presidential Transition Project, is the 920-page Republican Party plan to be implemented after (not if) they “win” the presidential and congressional elections in November. It describes how Trump and his allies intend to destroy America’s democracy and create something like a monarchy or fascist political order. Independently of the 2025 Project, Trump believes he will win the election and then become the absolute leader. The federal government will then be under his control, obviating the need for elections and the rule of law. The rich and powerful will be the chief beneficiaries.

According Project 2025, opponents of Trump will be imprisoned or deported, as will millions of undocumented workers residing in the country. Thousands of Trump loyalists will be appointed to executive branch jobs. And a full-blown right-wing agenda will be instituted, involving lowered taxes on the rich, deregulation, and privatization of critical public institutions. The social safety net will be eviscerated. The production and consumption of fossil fuels will be maximized and global warming will increase.

KAREN GREENBERG & JULIAN ZELIZER, authors of Our Nation at Risk, open this powerful discussion on the integrity of our elections.

Maryland state legislator LINDA FOLEY speaks to the need for a massive margin to guarantee the defeat of Donald Trump.

PRESIDENT CHRISTIAN NUNES of the National Organization for Women tells us what her legendary cohorts will be doing in 2024 to protect our democracy.

MIKE HERSH emphasizes the stellar credentials of our honored guests.

Radio host LYNN FEINERMAN, chimes in with her emphasis on the rights and opportunities this election offers for democracy.

Poet DENNIS BERNSTEIN, host of KPFA’s Flashpoints, reads us his poetry, including “The Nuts & Bolts of Brotherhood,” and later of his sainted mother.

Host “SLUGGO” WASSERMAN chimes in with one about Woodstock2 and another about a visit to the park with his youngest daughter.

TATANKA BRICCA talks with his drum of “perfect love” and more...

RON LEONARD then chimes in to celebrate Woodstock2 and the myths that were, in fact, very real.

Tuesday, June 30, Franklin County agreed to a historic  $7 million settlement with the family of Casey Goodson Jr., resolving the civil claims arising from the  tragic events of December 4, 2020. This settlement marks a significant step in the pursuit of justice for  Casey and his loved ones. 

Since that fateful day, Casey's family has endured immense pain and hardship, navigating a long and challenging journey toward justice. Over three years have passed since Casey was senselessly murdered  by former Sheriff's Deputy Michael Jason Meade. Throughout this period, the family has remained  steadfast in their fight for accountability and reform. 

The settlement allows Casey's family to resolve their civil claims against Franklin County, enabling them  to concentrate fully on the upcoming murder retrial of Michael Jason Meade. While no amount of money  can ever compensate for the loss of Casey, this settlement is a crucial acknowledgment of the profound  impact his death has had on his family and the broader community. 

Joe Biden recently made history by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential race after dropping out. With Harris likely to secure the nomination, the focus shifts to her choice of running mate.

The list of potential candidates includes Governors Newsom (CA), Whitmer (MI), Beshear (KY), Shapiro (PA), Pritzker (IL), and Cooper (NC), along with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (AZ). Although Newsom and Whitmer are strong candidates, Whitmer has reportedly declined the spot. Newsom, meanwhile, is from California, just like Harris. The Constitution prohibits a ticket with two people from the same state, and while they could solve that by having one of them change their official residence, it may come off as manipulative and unpopular, especially when MAGA Republicans paint California as a “woke” state.

Last week community members made their voices heard at the quarterly Franklin County Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting. Despite the public meeting being held at 2pm on a weekday, constituents filled the back rows of the Franklin County Government Center meeting room, many taking time off of work to show up. 

This is the second consecutive IAC meeting to receive significant public scrutiny as a result of recent reports on Franklin County’s substantial investments in Israel Bonds.

In a recent public radio interview, an Ohio oil and gas industry spokesperson claimed fracking was safe and environmentally friendly.

The statement raised the interest of Save Ohio Parks steering committee member Jenny Morgan, who filed a records request with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to see if the claim was true. She received thousands of ODNR reports on inspecting and cleaning up Ohio oil and gas accidents over the last nine years.

Morgan was so disturbed by descriptions of methane gas leaks and radioactive fracking wastewater spilled into area waterways that she started a daily accident report on Facebook, summarizing, dissecting and posing questions about cleanup and mitigation.

She found that thousands of fracking-related accidents and cleanups happening nearly every day over the last nine years challenges the Ohio gas and oil industry’s claims that fracking is environmentally friendly.

Once again, Ohio is trying to pawn off one of its worst politicians on the country. It’s long been a strategy of the Buckeye State to get rid of our crumb-bums by getting them elected to national office. Consider William Henry Harrison, who did the country a favor by catching pneumonia on his way to inauguration; James A. Garfield, whose assassin was smart enough to shoot at point-blank range; William Howard Taft, who aided the nation’s poets by rhyming with graft; and Warren G. Harding, whose cronies from his Ohio hometown were so corrupt that they sold off the country’s first petroleum reserve privately for kickbacks.

Pastor Roscoe D. Robey of the 7th Avenue Community Missionary Baptist Church has helped support the Weinland Park area with his spirituality since 2009. His church has tangibly been a part of Weinland Park’s revitalization, albeit in an aggravating kind of way. And what he’s had to deal with – mixed-use development crowding his church on both sides – could be a “Zone In” harbinger of things to come for those homeowners or small businesses in Columbus’s major corridors.

Just a short walk up from High Street, the church has been a source of help and inspiration for the Weinland Park community for roughly 60 years. The congregation’s summer project of raising money for school supplies is underway, and they are mentoring young boys from the neighborhood who are in trouble, Pastor Robey told the Free Press.

“We have a big thumbprint, and often times when folks get into trouble and need a little help, they can come to us, and they come to us, because I lobby for things downtown,” said the Pastor who is pictured above top left.

Columbus “heat islands” are in full effect for yet another summer, but many in the community may not be aware there’s a burgeoning movement of young African American activists who are focusing their attention to climate change and seeking to reverse the damage it’s doing to our urban neighborhoods.

Kwesi Low is one of these activists (pictured above on left). He works with former Congressional candidate Morgan Harper to help run her grassroots organization Columbus Stand Up. The 41-year-old also helped run her 2020 Democrat primary campaign against Joyce Beatty, kickstarting his transition from purely community organizing to electoral politics.

Intriguing and eye-opening is how that primary in some ways mirrors the impact climate change is having on urban neighborhoods. Low admits Morgan underperformed in Ohio’s urban areas where support should have been overwhelming, but never materialized.

“No Rail, No Vote” was recently posted to r/Columbus Reddit, foreshadowing a potential grassroots effort to derail the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA)’s November 0.75 percent sales tax levy for rapid transit bus corridors or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

The LinkUS Mobility Initiative is the billion(s) dollar plan to increase Columbus’s public transit mobility options other than motor vehicles so to address the huge population spike regional leaders are predicting over the next twenty to thirty years. Estimates have varied widely, from $2 to $8 billion, on what the final LinkUS cost to taxpayers will be.

Initiated in 2020 by both COTA and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Committee (MORPC), the plan has designs on five Columbus corridors, such as West Broad and Olentangy River Road.